Raya Recently- 21 Months!

Raya,
My sweet girl...I truly believe you are a girl full of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, and this month you had an extra dose of Spice :) So you kept us all on our toes!

First and foremost let me thank you for finally letting me put your shoes and socks on before we leave the house and KEEPING them ON until we reach our destination. I know you'd prefer to always be barefoot, my little monkey, but I appreciate the fact that you don't get into your carseat and immediately rip them off. If you're tired, they're coming off, but I can't stand sleeping with socks on either, so I don't blame you--But thank you for keeping them on when it matters.

Back to your Spicy side...This month the combination of you figuring out how to get what you want and also having a new kid to share some of the lime light with has made for some full days to say the least. For example, yesterday you were running up and down the hallway with your hands behind your back and yelling "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa" and faking that you were going to crash into the wall face first. Yes, my 21 month old was doing this and fully aware of how nervous it was making me. And of course the more I told you to be careful and slow down and put your arms out so you could break your fall, the more you laughed and the more you did it. It was hilarious, I'm not going to lie, and the only reason I couldn't get my camera out to record you was because I was trying my best to protect your little face from the walls.

You are a chatty-kathy ( I have no idea where you get that from ;) You have lots of words. I LOVE when you say a new one. I never knew hearing your baby say a new word would be one of the best little surprises! I don't know what it is, but its just so exciting when I hear you say something new! The funniest thing right now is when you're hungry you say "Mmmm, Num" and rub your belly. I don't know where you got that from. Especially the rubbing your belly part. But its ridiculously cute!!!

And now to your newest role: Big Sister. You are a pro at it! You are absolutely sweet to him. There isn't an ounce of jealously...do 21month olds know how to be jealous? If I'm holding him and you want to be on my lap too, you just climb up. Its like you're thinking "I know you're holding him and all, but he can fit in one of your arms, so you better move him to one or the other cause I'm coming up on your lap right now." And then the 3 of us sit together in the rocking chair, you play with my hair, and we watch TV. Its perfection.

Sometimes when I'm holding him you'll walk by, take out your pacifier, kiss him on his head and continue on. SWEETNESS!!! You love to hold his little hands and feet.

We're working on being gentle because sometimes when your petting his feet you start to pull them...and well I'm sure that's not the best feeling for him. You pat his head and smooth out his hair and in the last week you put your hands up to hold him. You LOVE to hold him. I think I already wrote about this, but its so, so, so cute seeing you hold him.

 And one of the coolest things about your 21st month, you finally have your very own room and its completely decorated and set up! You love playing in your room. Its so nice having an area in the house that you can be in and I don't have to worry about what you're getting into because everything in there is yours! My Dad, your Grandpa, came for the week and put it all together. I'll take pictures in the next day or so and post them. Now when we're downstairs you'll stand at the bottom and point upstairs and if I don't get what you're trying to tell me you start to (fake) cry. All because you want to play in your room!

I have no idea how much you weigh, or how tall you are. I'm guessing you're around 34 or 35 inches tall and probably about 25lbs. You've always felt like such a peanut to me, but after having this little baby here you seem so big! I know, everyone told me you would, and you do. I'm amazed by how much longer your legs seem too. And you're officially in a size 7 shoe. You wear 18-24month and 2T clothes. You're still on the leaner side so you fit the 2Ts because you're tall.

Rockin the fur coat and your Lebron shoes from Santa 

I'm still not sure how I'll be as close with this little boy as I am with you (but I'm sure I will). You truly are my other half. I can't believe how much you make me laugh and I can't believe how I got such a joy of a kid for a daughter. You light up my days and you make life that much better. Thank you for being the sweetheart that you are and thank you for making Mommy the happiest girl on the block :)
I love you Sweet Girl!
Xoxo, Mom

2 Under 2

So I only have about 3 months to use the "2 Under 2" phrase...so I better jump on it :) Today was Gentry's first day back at work. Lucky for me my Dad is still in town, so I've yet to be all alone with the "2 Under 2." Haha. I make it seem like my 20month old and 2week old are monsters. They're not at all---But I'm officially out numbered! So it's a bit intimidating. I know I can do it...but I'm still anxious about it.  In the last 24 hours its become VERY clear that we need to be on a schedule. When I brought it up to Gentry he totally agreed, which means he was also thinking about it before I brought it up...which means we're on the same page and understand that to stay on top of these kiddos we need a Plan Of Action. Wow, I'm sure I'm making it a bigger deal than it probably is, but really, I'm just trying to prepare for those really hard days and by having a "POA" I'm in control right? Riiiiiight. Good luck with that, Kelsey. So we're getting on a schedule. 

Every things been going good. Nursing is finally back on track and going smoothly. Kallen is sleeping great-still sleeps most of the day. The times he is awake he just looks around and seems pretty content. He likes to sit up so he can see the room. He definitely has more of a temper than Raya did. When he doesn't like something I'm doing he CLEARLY lets me know. And that kid has some lungs on him!!! He makes me put a little pep in my step when I'm changing him or getting ready to feed him. He does not like to wait. 

Raya is my little Tasmanian. I don't like to add the devil part to that because there's nothing devilish about her...but there's plenty of Tasmanian about her ;) She just keeps going and going and going. She's such a good big sister. It's probably my favorite thing so far. She holds her hands up and says "BeBe," which means she wants to hold him- but only as long as he's quiet or asleep. Once he wakes up and makes nosies she wants to give him back. Smart girl. She loves to kiss on him and she loves to hold his hands and feet. She's a sweet girl. 

Since my Dad's been in town he's helped make our house so much more homey. I love it. Raya's room is amazing!!! It's my dream room :) If I was 5 or younger. It's just so dang cute! I will post pictures as soon as I put all her clothes away and unpack everything. I'm so glad he could come for the week. I really don't know what I would've done if I didn't have all my parents to help with Raya and getting situated and unpacked. I'm a lucky girl!!! 

Well, bed time. 

Name Game

So deciding on a Boy name was so much harder than finding a Girl name. Before we even knew what we were having we had 2 or 3 girls names that we really liked and only one boy name that I liked and Gentry was just whatever about. So when we found out we were having a boy I was a little freaked out that we wouldn't find a name we would love as much as we love Raya's name. Initially I was sure we were going to name him Tyce. I loved how the name looked and it was short and easy. As time went on I started to like it less, well I just didn't love it like I loved it when I first heard it. And Gentry didn't really like it at all, but we had no other options. About 3 years ago I heard the name Kallen and loved it. It was the name of a surfer. I totally forgot about the name until my Aunt Kim randomly text me one day, "Do you like the name Kalen?" So I looked it up and loved all the meanings I found.
The Irish/Celtic meaning is: Mighty Warrior.
The Hebrew meaning is: Calm and Affectionate.
The American meaning is: Loving, and
The Greek meaning is: Handsome.

How perfect! I loved how it looked when it was wrote out, and since the middle name was for sure going to be Gentry, it was one of the few names that sounded good with Gentry as the middle. I love love love Raya's name, and her name has great meanings, so I wanted a name with good meanings for him too.
Raya's name means...
The Israeli meaning is: Friend
The Old Greek meaning is: Adaptable and Easy Going
The Slavonic meaning is: Happy
In Latin it means: Queen

Then came the decision on the spelling. I liked it with one "L": Kalen. Gentry liked it with two "L"s, Kallen. Well actually I don't think he really cared either way, he just assumed it would be with two. I asked a bunch of different people how they'd say the name depending on how many Ls there were. Easily 90% of the people I asked said if I spelled it with one L, it would be pronounced Kay-Len. And I did not want that! So after the 40+ responses I got telling me to go with two Ls if I wanted it pronounced Kal-len (like Allen with a K) I decided that 2 Ls it was. What's funny is I goggled the question "How would you spell Kallen?" And I found 2 different forums where people had asked the same question and people who's name was Kallen commented on the topic. They all said the same thing. If it was with one L everyone called them Kay-len, so if you were using the name, for a boy especially, spell it with two Ls. So by the time I was about 30 weeks pregnant we were pretty sure it was going to be Kallen Gentry. And I LOVE it! I think it suits him perfectly. I love the meanings and I love how it looks :) Cut to his first doctor appt....and they come to the waiting room to call him in and say "Kay-len Robertson" UH!!! Every single doctor and nurse says Kaylen. ANNOYING. Lol. So it looks like I will forever be correcting people. Sorry buddy, I tired :( Just about everyone does this with Raya's name too. They call her Rie-ya. Like Maya, but with a R. So I guess I better get use to correcting both of my child's names. Awesome ;) But I love both of their names!!!

Keeping Up With Kallen

Well he's been here for 9 days! He's a very sweet boy. He's a bit feistier than Raya was as a baby. He HATES for me to change his diaper and he hates when I wake him up (which I rarely do :) But really, who likes to be woken up? Not his Mama! He sleeps great. Basically only wakes up to eat. I've actually gotten some pretty full nights of sleep, soooo thankful for that! The last few days he's been awake more and its so fun seeing him look around. He gives the sweetest little kisses... I know he's just looking for something to eat, but they're still super sweet! At his 1st doctor appt he was a bit jaundice, but nothing that requires anything other than getting him to drink as much breast milk as he wants. I didn't know breast milk is one of the best ways to help a baby get over jaundice, or heal jaundice, or ??? I don't know the correct way to say that. But basically breast milk is gold ;) We had some nursing issues that we're just about through. Raya was a breeze to nurse, so I'm learning to problem solve with Kallen. I'm hoping in the next few days we'll get back on track and he will be nursing smoothly!

Raya seems to really love him. She's very, very sweet to him. I LOVE the way she says "Baby," it sounds kinda like "BeBe." I will get it on video! She pats him and loves to play with his hair. She gets a kick out of holding his bottle when he's eating. She also loves to put his pacifier in his mouth-which she usually tries to do while he's asleep whether he wants it or not. So we are practicing "being gentle" and "easy" with the baby. She's a great Big Sis! It's been a tough week getting use to having 2 kiddos. When one of those kiddos is 20months and full of curiosity and energy the words "No" and "Stop" are used on the regular. We're trying to get better at having more patients. Raya is an absolutely wonderful kid. She's very good and such a joy. She's just at an age that never stops and she's interested in everything! So that makes for an interesting day to say the least. It's been great having her spend time at my Mom's, and my Dad is coming tomorrow, so I feel a little less guilty when she gets to spend quality time with them that I haven't been able to give her in the past week.

I'm slowly but surely adjusting to life with 2 kids. My first night home I was like "Who the hell does this?!?!" and "Why on earth would someone tell me to have kids this close in age?!?!" But by the next day I was over it. Its definitely a challenge, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love my life and just feel so lucky and so very thankful for getting the cards I've been dealt. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do this when Gentry goes back to work. He gets these first 2 weeks off and then will work 3 day work weeks for the next 10 weeks. Paternity leave is awesome!!!!! I'm so thankful for that, but a little freaked out about life when I'm out numbered and home with both of them-alone! LOL.
But all is well in the Bunker-Robertson home! Everyone is healthy which, right now, is all I ask for. I hope to post as often as I can. At least once a week :) Pictures of Kallen are here: Keeping Up With Kallen. I will update that album daily, so feel free to browse! And thank you all so much for the well wishes and sweet messages. Its times like these that I am reminded of how many amazing people I have in my life. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Kallen Gentry is Here!!!

 I am soooo glad I didn't make it to 39 weeks :) What's even better than that is sitting here looking at my TWO KIDS sleeping next to each other on the couch. Ahhh, couldn't be happier!

Note: If you don't like reading about things like dilation and epidurals this definitely isn't the post for you ;)

So we started moving our stuff into our new place on the 28th. I was able to leave Raya with her Nana and Grandma during the day just about everyday which was so very helpful. I literally could do about 20 minutes of work and I had to rest. SO ANNOYING! Our big New Years Eve plans consisted of Gentry taking over bedtime duties with Raya so I could soak in the tub. When I got out I started having very mild contractions- just like I did with Raya. I decided to time them and they were getting closer together and a bit stronger. I timed them for about 2 hours and was pretty sure we'd be leaving for the hospital in the next few hours, so I decided to go lay down and try and get some rest (and a few more hours of cuddle time with Raya) before we left for the hospital. Well, I fell asleep and woke up about 3 hours later. My contractions had totally gone away. Dang! I really thought I was going to have a 1.1.11 baby! Anyways, the next day I had no contractions. On Jan 2nd I woke up in the worst pain of my entire pregnancy. I was Ab.So.Lute.Ly over it! As much as I didn't want to be induced I just couldn't take it anymore. At dinner that night I decided I would call my doctor first thing in the morning and go in and see her and set up the first available time to be induced. I consulted with my other doctors that night (WebMD and Babycenter.com). I read a bunch of different girl's stories about being induced and the pros and cons. I started to get a little freaked out. I have no idea why, but I felt so guilty deciding when Baby Boy was going to come. I have no judgement towards other that chose to do that, and I was so surprised by how much it bugged me, but none the less it did and I didn't know if i could do it. After reading all the stories I was leaning more towards not being induced, but I was still going to see my Dr first thing in the morning and see what she had to say. I really like my doctor and trusted her opinion, so I felt comfortable telling her how I felt and that I was struggling with the idea of being induced but I just couldn't take being pregnant anymore. So at 11:30 I went to bed.

2:30am-Gentry comes to bed. I woke up a little when I heard him come in, and I also felt a bit of a contraction. I thought I just had to pee, so I made my way to the bathroom and by the time I got back I was getting a 3rd contraction that was pretty uncomfortable. I stood there for a minute and got another one. By about the 5th contraction I knew we were going to the hospital. I called my mom and told her to come asap. By the time she got to the house to pick up Raya only 15 minutes had past, but in those 15 minutes my contractions had become intense! I was trying to "walk them out" while I waited for Raya to get loaded in the car and for Gentry to finish loading our things. So we're all ready to go, and at this point my contractions were strong enough that I had to stop everything and just try and breath. In between contractions in the car I was laughing because Gentry was running all the red lights and I was sure we'd get pulled over. But, and I really thought about this as we were driving, if we did get pulled over that'd just make my labor story even better ;) At some point we decided that it was totally legal to put your flashers on and run red lights if your passenger was in labor. I asked Gentry to drop me off at the door of the emergency room because I needed to get in asap so I could get my EPIDURAL! That was really the only thing I could think about. I'm pretty sure I said "I'm ready for my epidural" to every nurse that talked to me just to make sure they knew I was super serious and they should probably get someone on that, like, NOW.

 3:30am- I'm checked in and in the delivery room. My contractions are sooooo strong. They're coming about a minute apart and lasting a minute. I remember the nurse trying to ask me all kinds of questions so she could fill my chart out and the only thing I could think to say was "Unless I can answer those questions with a four letter word you're gonna have to wait until the epidural kicks in." I didn't experience contractions like this with Raya.  The first time they checked me I was 6cm dilated. They called my doctor to come in and started preparing for delivery. I started typing a text message to update my family, and by the time I could finish the text and send it I was 9-10cm dilated! 

4:30am- My epidural is in full effect and I feel amazing! I could now answer the nurse's questions without using a single curse word and my doctor was in. She checked me out and broke my water. I was completely dilated and I'd probably start pushing soon. Gentry and I watched a little tv, facebooked and text our family and friends, duh :) 

5:00am- My doctor comes in to tell me I'll probably start pushing in the next 20 minutes. My epidural this time was very different than the one I had with Raya. When I was getting ready to push with Raya I could feel my contractions and could feel my body wanting to push. With this baby I felt nothing! My Dr didn't really like that so she had them turn down my epidural, but I still felt nothing :) 

5:30am- My doc comes back and they prepare the room for delivery! I start pushing at about 5:45 and Kallen came at 5:57am!!!! It was a very fast labor and delivery. I felt so so so very lucky. I'm not kidding, my entire pregnancy just about every wish I made had to do with a fast, easy, healthy labor. So thank you wish master for granting that wish!!!! When Kallen came out my doctor and all the nurses made comments about his size. Lol. They were like "Oh yah, this kid is easily 8lbs." The baby nurse said, "8lbs?! Oh no, that kid is at least 9!" I thought she was joking because my doctor has measured me a week earlier and I wasn't measuring much bigger than a 8lb baby. Sure enough they put him on the scale and he was 9lbs 2oz!!!! That was so reassuring to me. I would've been so ANNOYED if I had been in such pain for the whole pregnancy and popped out a 7lb baby.

So the baby nurse cleaned him up next to me. My other nurse finished my chart while I gave her a mini makeup lesson. And then I got him back!!! 

Kallen Gentry
Born Jan 3 2011 @ 5:57am
9lbs 2oz and 19.5in long

 We were all healthy and happy and I couldn't ask for anything more! They moved me to my room that I would stay in until I left. I just want to RUN! I couldn't believe how great I felt. I forgot what it felt like to feel "light." I just want to jump and do squats and power walk all around. Of course I didn't :) But it was still an amazing feeling to have that baby out of me! I was able to leave the hospital early, so we checked out the next day. I missed Raya, and wanted to be home with her. 

So that's the labor story! My facebook album is here: Kallen Gentry is Here!

I'll post more about what Kallen soon :) He's just perfect!